Author photo, Reuters
A massive robotaxi malfunction in the Chinese city of Wuhan has led to around a hundred self-driving cars stopping in the middle of the road while travelling. This has sparked a new debate on the safety of unmanned vehicles.
Local police said preliminary findings indicate a “system failure” that caused at least a few cars to stop right in the road.
Videos on social media captured the glitch and one showed the aftermath of the collision on the motorway, although police said there were no injuries and passengers had safely exited their vehicles.
Baidu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to a police statement posted on social networking site Weibo, the cause of the incident is still under investigation.
Baidu operates the Apollo Go unmanned taxi service in dozens of cities around the world, but predominantly in China.
December 2025. Ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft announced a partnership with the Chinese tech giant to test Apollo Go vehicles on UK roads, with plans to start pilot trials in 2026.
At the same time, both companies still need regulatory approval before they can start such pilot programmes.
Author photo, Reuters
While drone technology may be safer on average than human drivers, this incident showed that it “can still fail in entirely new ways,” said Jack Stilgoe, a professor.
“If we want to make informed decisions about this technology, we need to understand entirely new types of risks,” he told BBC News.
This crash is not the first time self-driving cars have demonstrated the technical challenges of self-driving cars.
In December 2025, a major power failure in San Francisco caused Waymo taxis to stop working throughout the city, causing traffic jams.
In August 2025, an Apollo Go job with a passenger in Chongqing fell into a construction pit.